Brittany Runs A Marathon

I hate running.

It's not the exercise itself. I grew up an athlete and still, as an older man, will beat your ass in a game of basketball.

No, I just hate running. It's boring, and I can't find the motivation to do it. With sports-that-serve-as-exercise -- basketball, tennis, and (perhaps) golf -- I can use the competition with others as motivation. But running?  I'm just competing with myself.

And that's a lot less fun.

However, something about Brittany Runs A Marathon inspired me. I understood why she felt stagnant; I connected with her desire to create new life habits. Hell, during this 103 minute flick I had three different "concessions" while watching from my couch.

The COVID-19 pandemic has created some real challenges to living a more healthy lifestyle. I hunkered down in my house for a long while, planning to resume my normal activities once it dissipated. I moved less, stayed distressed, and gained weight.

Clearly, I need a new plan. The well written, well acted, comedy-drama Brittany Runs A Marathon inspired me see that.

Blow The Man Down

[To the tune of "Blow The Man Down"]

Come all ye young fellows who love a movie

Come watch, with me, Blow The Man Down

Settle in with some popcorn or your favorite snack

Come watch, with me, Blow The Man Down.

Morgan and Sophie, both great as the leads

Come watch, with me, Blow The Man Down

But the movie it's stolen by the old women three

Come watch, with me, Blow the Man Down.

T'was Hugot and Squibb, with their co-star O'Toole

Come watch, with me, Blow The Man Down

Who give this flick substance and make it a worth-y

Come watch, with me, Blow The Man Down

First Cow

Despite accolades, critics have used words like "simple" and "modest" in reviews of  Kelly Reichardt's First Cow, and at least one described the film as a "slow-moving story with a big heart." Those may be fair evaluations, as Reichardt works from a minimalist perspective. The screenwriter and director described her style in a 2014 interview with The Guardian as: "My films are just glimpses of people passing through."

But I found First Cow to be a complicated, multi-layered story about relationship, passion, and ambition.

Cookie Figowitz and King-Lu (played by John Magaro and Orion Lee) meet briefly by chance during a fur trapping expedition, then connect again several days later at a trading post in the burgeoning Pacific Northwest.  The two men have dramatically different personalities: Cookie is a gentle artist, a trained baker who seldom talks but has something important to say when he does, while King-Lu is drawn to enterprise and wealth, and seems forever focused on his next exciting adventure.

The combination of their talents, combined with the first milking cow in the Territory of Oregon, furthers the plot and allows the audience to become emotionally invested in the story. We know early that the ending won't be happy, but the journey to the end can be.

The relationship that forms between Cookie and King-Lu is complex. Both men spent the majority of their young lives on the move, never really settling down anywhere or with anyone. But very quickly each comes to trust the other, and they develop an unusually deep relationship.

Is it platonic? Romantic?

Reichardt doesn't provide that answer, and it really doesn't matter. It's enough to know that one man is the yin to the yang of the other. A beautiful scene early in the film, when the men first reconnect, illustrates this. King-Lu invites Cookie to visit his shack for a drink then goes off to split wood for a fire, leaving Cookie standing alone in the threshold of his home. After a few second of awkward uncertainty, Cookie picks up a broom and starts sweeping the floor.

He's home.

It matters not whether the love the two men feel for each other is romantic or platonic. What is important is that each found something in the other that fills a void. As individuals they are flawed and empty; together they are complete.